Hot cheetos

I will never understand their obsession with hot cheetos. I tried the smallest bite in Houston and thought my mouth was going to be on fire and that I was going to drink the water fountain dry. G.R.O.S.S. At my school the kids can purchase snacks in the morning. They give the money to my assistant and tell her what they want. They get their snack at the end of the day and either eat it while walking home or eat it at home or something, I don't really know? I'm not a fan of buying snacks, but whatev I don't have to deal with it. Until the very end of the day and they are throwing their folder and bookbag around and I threaten to take away their snack, but what am I going to do with it??

Anyway, this week has been hectic, go fig. Yesterday (Monday) was probably the worst day that I have had. I had several students that refused to do anything. All morning/afternoon I was in a struggle with R'Vant. He refused to sit in his seat, he would roll around on the carpet, he would be laying under the tables, just acting a fool. I took him to the hallway multiple times trying to coerce him to behave and threatening him with calling his momma and all sorts of other things. They might have worked for short stints of time, but nothing lasted. At one point he was rolling down the hallway. Ms. Ballard talked to him and he apologized, but even that didn't last forever. Finally after lunch during math he was ridiculous, no matter how much I yelled or how stern I was with him, he still refused to do anything. While the rest of the kids were working on worksheets, we were in a power struggle. He was laying on the ground knocking the chairs from one side of him over to the other side. After another struggle in the hallway, I realized I couldn't take it. Ms. Ballard came out again (after hearing from her assistant that I was probably in need of some help). Our principal was gone to a meeting....R'Vant was taken to the next person in charge. He came back in my room maybe 10 minutes later much more calm and subdued. He had gotten whooped. Don't worry, he seemed fine, but I cried.

Understanding corporal punishment has been really simple, accepting it is another challenge. Although I don't want parents to be whooping their kids based on how they act in my class, the fact of the matter is that this culture identifies with that. If kids are bad, they know that is what is going to happen. It doesn't mean that I have to whoop kids and as much as I thought I wouldn't send kids to the principal's office knowing that's what they would get, I realized that is the only thing they fear. If I do everything in my power to get them to behave and it still doesn't work, the only thing left is the fear the resides in that office at the entrance of the building. I've realized that the more my class watches him act out and not do anything that he is supposed to, the more they are going to think they can get away with that. It seems easy to think that you'll just ignore him because all he wants is attention, but for the sake of the rest of your class, that isn't possible. If you ignore him, the next kid is going to think he can throw chairs or try to bite me and nothing will happen to him. The worst part of the whole situation is that I love that kid. No joke, he is by far my favorite in the entire class. Therefore, to see anyone yell at him or give him a hard time about how he acted yesterday or this morning or even last week REALLY pushes my buttons. I'm UBER protective of my kids, it's one thing if I yell at them, but you had better believe I don't want anyone else yelling at them unless they are in authority (like the principal). That sounds awful because I know I give them a hard time, but I'm also the first one to offer praise when they are doing what they should be or showing me that they can do great work.

In other words, don't mess with my class and don't talk bad about my kids, because I truly love them!..and thank goodness, because we are going to be together for the next 10 months....